Kai Stromler wrote:These were the only two Masters entries, and there couldn't be a more perfect contrast of the old-school and new-school styles, with some slightly unsettling indications for the future. In the red corner we have a video looking captured, even though it's from DVD (probably went to analog between Rich's house and the convention), using a title animated by hand. Its music track is vocal rock (ok, punk/hardcore, but I'm trying to be general here), and it is heavily focused on plot and pixel changes created by the original animators. In the blue corner we have a video ripped from DVDs of a show made without a single painted cel. The music track is non-vocal techno, and the emphasis is on feeling, atmosphere, and pixel changes created by the video editor. From a creator's perspective, one can see that these two videos were created with approximately equal effort and equal competence. Picking which is better, for anyone with experience and insight, is deadly tough. So you have a great old-school video up against a great new-school video, and for whatever reason, the audience picks the new-school video.
I like old-school stuff, and given all the great work that's been done with them, it'd be a shame to let those old-school kind of styles just fade out. But audiences like shiny things, and familiar things. TaranT's video was great, and there's no knock to be made against it, but its victory here shouldn't be the signal for the final die-off of old-school AMV or anything.
It's ironic - and a bit humorous - to see the term "new-school" applied to me. Especially after the video that I put in the Master's contest at AWA last year. And it's flattering (Thanks!) to be compared to someone with RichLather's years of experience.
I don't see any lesson here about old vs. new school, either. I've won contests with both and I've seen others do the same. My inclination is towards old school, however. I like the "DeMoss Rule" (my words, not his ^_^) to limit a project to two weeks, although I'm usually willing to go to four weeks. I don't have the patience for major reconstructions like
Tainted Donuts or
Transcending Love, or for an effects vid like
Euphoria.
One correction to your comments: the source for
Mirage was an analog capture through a camcorder from DVD to DV files. And all the editing was done in DV, too. Not as tech-y as ripping or the AMVApp, but it's what I've become comfortable with. And the video quality is more than adequate as you could tell.
I'll second RichLather, too: thanks for the long writeup. I thought about doing the same after Sakura-Con, but I forgot to bring something to write notes on.
